Tag Archives: Co-official Languages

SPAIN

Revitalizing Aragonese Language Advocacy: Jorge Pueyo’s Commitment in the Congress of Deputies

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Jorge Pueyo, representative of Chunta Aragonesista (CHA) in the Congress of Deputies for the Sumar coalition, promised the position in Aragonese “for Aragón, it is your rights and freedom, landscapes and rivers and the working class” (for Aragón, your rights and freedom, landscape and rivers and the working class).

Later, in statements to the media, he announced that he would continue to speak Aragonese in Congress, arguing that on a day-to-day basis he expresses himself equally in Spanish and Aragonese.

Likewise, he regretted that the president of the Chamber, Francina Armengol, did not refer to Aragonese in her speech on the use of languages.

In addition to using Aragonese in Congress, the CHA deputy intends to continue working to make its use equal to that of Catalan, Basque and Galician.

In 2021, the Congress of Deputies, with the votes of the PSOE, gave the go-ahead to a non-legal proposal, defended by Bildu and supported by nationalists, independentistas and Unidas Podemos, which urged the Government to promote statutory reforms that are necessary for their own languages, such as Aragonese or Bable, to become official.

Aragonese and Catalan appear as “proper languages” of Aragon in its Statute of Autonomy, although they do not have the rank of co-officials.

It is estimated that some 25,000 people know how to speak Aragonese, to which are added another 20,000 who understand and know it but do not express themselves in it. And they declare that some 17,000 people know how to write in Aragonese.

In addition to appearing in the school curriculum and being taught voluntarily in schools and institutes where it is the predominant language, Aragón has its own Language Academy with the Aragonese and Catalan institutes.

At the beginning of the mandate of the socialist Javier Lambán, the General Directorate of Language Policy was created, in the hands of CHA, which the new PP-Vox government has announced that it is going to abolish it.

The ‘Aragonese Broncano’

Jorge Pueyo, 28, a lawyer and until now the presenter of a program in Aragonese on Aragón Televisión, is known as the Aragonese Broncano.

He was born in Fonz, a town in Huesca where Aragonese is spoken. He has said that during his childhood he experienced situations of linguistic inequality, which made him interested in the dissemination of Aragonese.

He has published several poems in Aragonese and his project for the dissemination of Aragonese began with a YouTube channel, a kind of program in Aragonese that was not successful.

In May 2019, the Charrín Charrán program premiered, the first program in Aragonese on Aragón TV, presented by Silvia Cebolla, where he participated as editor and reporter.

He rose to fame when in October 2021 he began to publish a morning newscast from Monday to Thursday in Aragonese on Twitter and was able to reach many more people. In fact, his first video reached 30,000 views.

In 2022, the program A escampar la boira premiered, a midnight program for Aragón TV, where they interviewed relevant personalities inside and outside Aragón in Aragonese.

In addition to promising the position in Aragonese, Pueyo wore the tie that José Antonio Labordeta wore for the first time when he took office as a deputy in Congress for CHA. The garment in question was designed by the painter Agustín Ibarrola.

SPAIN

Use of Co-Official Languages in Spanish Congress: President Armengol’s Announcement and Implications

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The oaths of the deputies of Junts, Esquerra, Bildu and BNG in the Congress of Deputies in Catalan, Basque and Galician served as a prelude this Thursday to the first announcement by the recently inaugurated president, Francina Armengol, which brings news about the use of the co-official languages in the lower house.

From now on, those deputies who wish to do so may use the three languages in their interventions. There will be no transition and the instruction will start to apply automatically. These are the main keys to the decision.

How was the Armengol announcement?

The new use of languages became known through the first intervention of the president as a third authority of the State.

“From respect, all ideas fit and can be defended, accepting without qualms the plurality of thoughts and identities that coexist in our country enriches us,” he said while considering that reflecting that plurality is an obligation to “get much closer to the real Spain “, which is “diverse” and “full of colors and loaded with nuances”.

“To move forward on this path, I want to express my commitment to Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician, and the linguistic richness that they represent”, he asserted before encouraging all his lordships to “defend parliamentary democracy” and ” preserve and respect the diversity” that coexists in the country and that the ballot boxes “have brought” to the Lower House.

What does the Rules of Congress say?

The instruction is automatically applied in view of the current wording of the Regulations of the Congress. In addition, the Regulation grants the presidency the power to interpret or complete the wording of that text if there is “omission” or “doubt”.

This is precisely the forecast that Armengol has used. The Regulation specifies that, if a general resolution is issued, it must have the favorable vote of the Board and the Board of Spokespersons.

https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2023-08-18/intervenir-constitucion-catalan-vasco-reglamento-tc_3719915/

The PSOE interprets, therefore, that no reform of the rules of Congress is necessary and the provision is applicable from now on.. The acting vice president, Yolanda Díaz, had assured in the last hours that she would “promote” a reform to allow the three languages to be used.

The history of the Senate

Catalan, Basque and Galician have already been used in the Senate since 2010 when, there, a reform approved in the Chamber was applied to allow it. In this case, the norm specifies that, along with their text in Spanish, senators may use any of the official languages in any autonomous community, in accordance with the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy for the presentation of written in the Chamber Registry.

Senators may also intervene in plenary session, during the debate on motions, in any of the official languages in any autonomous community, in accordance with the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy.

If the author of an initiative presents it in Spanish and, furthermore, in a language that is official in any autonomous community, in accordance with the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy, the initiative will also be published in this language..

Abide by the Constitution in Catalan and Basque

Although the use of the language raised doubts during the constitutive session of the Chamber, the use by the deputies of Junts, ERC and Bildu of unofficial formulas to swear or promise no longer leaves room for interpretation.

A recent ruling by the Constitutional Court settled the controversy. The references made to the “legal imperative”, “loyalty to the people of Catalonia”, “the mandate of October 1”, “the defense of those subjected to reprisals”, “the Catalan Republic” and the Basque Republic were supported by the Constitutional Court in a resolution supported by the progressive majority.

The TC argued that the previous use of this type of oaths or promises did not prevent the rest of the deputies from exercising their parliamentary functions “fully”.

SPAIN

Language Dispute Sparks Controversy in Spanish Politics

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The Government’s request to the European Union to include Catalan, Basque and Galician in the official language regime of the European Union and the announcement by the President of Congress, Francina Armengol, that these co-official languages will be admitted to the Chamber Baja has aroused indignation in the Government of Carlos Mazón and the Popular Party by leaving Valencian out of its list, which has the same status as a co-official language.

According to the Statute of Autonomy in its article 6, “the language of the Valencian Community is Valencian”. This does not happen in the Balearic Islands, where Catalan is referred to. Not listing the Valencian means, as the PP deputy Esteban González Pons defended in the same congressional chamber, risking that in Congress and the European Parliament they recognize “that the Valencian is Catalan” and not respecting the Statute or the Constitution.

The Consell will announce this Friday the measures that it will take in an institutional declaration to defend “the language, culture and signs of identity” of the Valencian Community, but there are already voices from the Government of Carlos Mazón that have risen up.

The first was the Minister for the Environment, the popular Salomé Pradas, the only one in the entire Consell who was sworn in in Valencian, accusing Pedro Sánchez of despising Valencian to “please his partners”. “I hope you rectify this disregard and contempt for the language itself and hallmark of the Valencian Community,” he wrote on social networks, recalling the literalness of the Statute.

The president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicente Mompó, also spoke along the same lines, who, in Valencian, added that “contempt” to the list of demands. «There will be those who say that it is only a symbol, but no, it is our language.

Sánchez does not respect the Valencian Community and has shown it in the financing, in the Mediterranean Corridor. and once again, belittling the Valencian”, he assured on his social networks

With the arrival of the Government of the Generalitat and the majority in the Cortes with the support of Vox, the PP had already announced the recovery of the Identity Signs Law, repealed by the Botànic, which strengthened Valencian against Catalan, something that from Education it is also intended to be done in the classroom despite the fact that the Valencian Academy of Language, the statutory body that regulates it, defends philological unity.